This may be an amateur question, but I am looking at some of the dessert recipes from Isa, and some of them call for oil while others call for margarine. Is it okay to use vegetable oil in a cake recipe if it originally calls for margarine? I find Earth Balance can be more expensive, so if I can just use oil instead without impacting the product, that'd be wonderful!

It depends. If the recipe calls for melted margerine, you can sub oil like ijdi says. If the marg is used solid, for instance, creamed with sugar and then added to the batter, subbing liquid oil may affect the texture of the batter in a bad way. You can use solid oils like coconut oil in those cases, also using a bit less than the recipe calls for.

Oil usually works fine as a substitute in cakes. Use something with a mild or neutral flavor, like canola. You want to increase the salt a little, though, since margarine has some and oil does not.

_________________Alina NiemiAuthor of The New Scoop: Recipes for Dairy-Free, Vegan Ice Cream in Unusual Flavors (Plus Some Old Favorites),Lizard Lunch and Other Funny Animal Poems for Kids, and The Hawaii Doodle Bookhttp://alinaspencil.com